Description

This volume traces the complex reasons behind the disturbing discrepancy between the health and well-being of children in mainstream Australia and those in remote Indigenous communities. Invaluably informed by Boulton's close working knowledge of Aboriginal communities, the book addresses growth faltering as a crisis of Aboriginal parenting and a continued problem for the Australian nation. The high rate and root causes of ill-health amongst Aboriginal children are explored through a unique synthesis of historical, anthropological, biological and medical analyses. Through this fresh approach, which includes the insights of specialists from a range of disciplines, Aboriginal Children, History and Health provides a thoughtful and innovative framework for considering Indigenous health.show more

About John Boulton

John Boulton is Emeritus Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Newcastle, Australia.show more

Table of contents

Foreword (Colin Tatz). Preface Part 1 The child in the human story Chapter 2 The child and nurture in the human story Gaynor Macdonald and John Boulton Chapter 3 Childhood in deep human history: The evolutionary origins of human childhood Ze'ev Hochberg Chapter 4 Traditions of Aboriginal parenting Gaynor Macdonald Part 2 The child in political history Chapter 5 A history of legislation and attitudes towards British, non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australian children Rani Kerin Chapter 6 The health of Aboriginal Children in Western Australian 1829 - 1960 Christine Choo Part 3 Political and social disruptions to the pre-requisites of parenting Chapter 7 Disrupting demography: population collapse and rebound John Boulton Chapter 8 Coolibah's Story: Structural violence in the twentieth century John Boulton Chapter 9 The destruction of food resources at the colonial frontier John Boulton Part 4 Disorders of Child Growth and Development: a metric of structural violence Chapter 10 Growth faltering as a metric of social exclusion and poverty John Boulton Chapter 11 A model of children's growth and adaptation to nutritional stress Ze'ev Hochberg and John Boulton Part 5 Conclusion Chapter 12 Growing up our way: beyond social determinants in the aetiology of growth faltering John Boulton Chapter 13 Reflections John Boultonshow more

Review quote

"Aboriginal Children, History and Health is both an emblematic story of the frontier in northern Australia and a guide to the hidden, persisting causes of indigenous disadvantage... Every sentence of his narrative breathes intellectual curiosity and empathy with his patients in the hectic, highly coloured remote community world."- Nicolas Rothwell, The Australianshow more